An employee walking along a thermal pipe at the Kamojang geothermalpower plant near Garut, West Java, on March 18. State utility provider Perusahaan Listrik Negara is targeting an additional 135 megawatts ofelectricity from three new geothermal plants. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time. …”

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Water governance crucial in corruption fight, say experts

Corruption in the water sector hurts the poor most, while discouraging investment and undermining efficient water resource management, experts say.

Michael Hantke-Domas, the honorary associate at UNESCO’s Center for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee in Scotland, said Monday that corruption ranges in scale — from petty to grand corruption.

Petty corruption, he said, involves small payments such as those made to help adjust water meters, while grand corruption involves big money, for example in infrastructure projects.

Corruption, he said, could be found on both the supply and demand sides — in the form of preferential treatment, driven by private sector, bribery and fraud in licensing, procurement and construction; and demand for bribes in exchange for services.

“It occurs in resource allocation, procurement and construction, such as diverting funds for a water supply network,” said Hantke-Doma, who is also a senior adviser at Governance, Law & Regulation.

According to a recent study, an estimated 30 percent of international aid agencies’ money spent in different countries was lost to corruption, while another study estimated that in the water sector 30 to 70 percent of funds for water-related projects was lost to corruption.

Hante-Doma was one of the speakers at a five-day international workshop on water governance, held in Bandung, West Java, which was attended by participants from five countries.

The workshop was a jointly funded initiative between UNDP Cap-Net, AguaJaring, IHE Indonesia and CKNet INA. Another expert on water projects, Mohd. Adnan, said when corrupt systems failed to deliver, poor people had few means to enter alternative markets.

“Acting within such a system, poor people, who typically cannot afford to pay bribes, lose out to the ones offering the highest bribes,” said Adnan, a consulting engineer and project manager from Malaysia’s RPM Engineers.

“But corruption is not a natural disaster. It is created, crafted and perfected by those who seek private gain at public expense.” Adnan pointed out that water sector is characterized by a number of factors that increase the likelihood of corruption.

The factors, he said, included the involvement of large-scale construction and monopolies, high demand for water services and technical complexity, which decreases public transparency and leads to an asymmetry of information.

“Corruption causes decisions to be weighed in terms of money, not people’s needs,” he said.

For example, he added, slum water provision, designed for the poorest families, may not be taken into account, while the needs of those who can pay the most are met immediately.

“Because of corruption we lose perspective of what is important for the people,” Adnan said.

Improved integrity, transparency, accountability and anticorruption measures in water lead to better decision making and more effective management, allocation and distribution of water resources and services, said Jap T. L. Yap of the World Bank and IHE Indonesia.

“There is a need to change from a sector-based approach to integrated water resources management to help prevent corrupt practices.”

Health, Safety & Environment

PRECARIOUS: Without proper safety equipment, three workers put the iron frame for a billboard in place near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Friday. The billboard will display a sign celebrating the city's 480th birthday. JP/Arief Suhardiman

Suppliers

Water Distribution

Flow of Funds, Flow of Water (WB)

Today, fewer than 20% of households in Indonesia have access to piped water, which is inexpensive and still of reasonable quality compared to alternative sources. The situation has deteriorated in recent years, as the sector can no longer rely on central government grants and loans, formerly major sources of funding.Read More ...

FREE CAR WASH: A taxi is sprayed with water from a broken pipe on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta on Sunday. (JP/J. Adiguna)

GIFT FROM EARTH: Almost half of Jakarta's residents use groundwater as their main source of clean water due to a lack of access to treated piped water. Water comes from wells like the one this family in Kampung Bahari, North Jakarta are using (photo above), or mechanic pumps like this one in Kampung Melayu, South Jakarta. (JP/P.J. Leo)

LATEST NEWS: Photographers covering the deteriorating health of former president Soeharto send pictures through a wireless internet facility in front of Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta on Wednesday. The service, which was provided by IT company CISCO, has saved journalists the effort of going back and forth between their offices to submit their work. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama